Source: Obama looking for openings with Iran | Napa Valley Register
Obama looking for openings with Iran
By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Monday his administration is looking for opportunities to open direct talks with longtime adversary Iran, but that years of mistrust will be hard to overcome.
"My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them," Obama said. "My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face."
In his first prime-time news conference as president, Obama repeated campaign pledges to rethink three decades of enmity with Iran, but offered no examples of possible partnership.
"Now it's time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently, as well, and recognize that, even as it has some rights as a member of the international community, with those rights come responsibilities."
On Afghanistan, Obama said he was reviewing a war strategy that has failed to root out terrorists and insurgents and hinted at a newly narrowed focus that prizes the fight against terrorism over the strengthening of a fragile U.S.-backed democratic government.
"I'm not going to allow al-Qaida or (Osama) bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland," Obama said.
The most promising areas for cooperation are probably Afghanistan and Iraq, both neighbors of Iran where the United States is fighting wars. Especially in Afghanistan, Iran has a strong interest in containing insurgent violence and the drug trade that threaten to spill over Iran's borders.
Obama repeated the usual list of U.S. complaints against Iran, including financial support for alleged Middle East terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and "bellicose language" directed at U.S. ally Israel. He also said Iran's nuclear program threatens to rock the Middle East and could set off a new arms race.
Iran denies it is pursuing a covert weapons program and insists its accelerated nuclear development program is aimed at producing electrical power. Despite broad doubts about the true nature of Iran's nuclear program, there is no public, irrefutable proof that the Islamic republic is using a legitimate energy program to build an illicit bomb.
Obama also said his administration is conducting a "thoroughgoing review" of the Afghanistan war and said he does not know how long the reassessment will take.
"We are going to need more effective coordination of our military efforts, with diplomatic efforts, with development efforts, with more effective coordination with our allies in order for us to be successful," Obama said.
He credited "the extraordinary work done by our troops" and diplomatic successes for relative peace and stability in Iraq.
"You do not see that yet in Afghanistan. They've got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community," Obama said.
That was a marked contrast from former President George W. Bush, who never missed an opportunity to praise the courage and leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a strong Bush ally.
As a candidate, Obama said the Bush administration was fighting the wrong war in Iraq and promised to retrain U.S. efforts against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. As president he is expected to approve an additional 30,000 U.S. forces for Afghanistan this year, fulfilling a standing request from the top U.S. commander to roughly double the number of U.S. soldiers there.
The first orders for Afghan deployments were expected by now, and the White House has not explained the holdup. The first additions are expected to be a mix of Army and Marine Corps units that will be directed to areas of heavy fighting against the Taliban and related groups.
Obama suggested that not enough has been done to go after militants where they hide out and rearm in the forbidding mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, another key U.S. ally.
"What we haven't seen is the kind of concerted effort to root out those safe havens that would ultimately make our mission successful," Obama said.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
Obama looking for openings with Iran
By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Monday his administration is looking for opportunities to open direct talks with longtime adversary Iran, but that years of mistrust will be hard to overcome.
"My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them," Obama said. "My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face."
In his first prime-time news conference as president, Obama repeated campaign pledges to rethink three decades of enmity with Iran, but offered no examples of possible partnership.
"Now it's time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently, as well, and recognize that, even as it has some rights as a member of the international community, with those rights come responsibilities."
On Afghanistan, Obama said he was reviewing a war strategy that has failed to root out terrorists and insurgents and hinted at a newly narrowed focus that prizes the fight against terrorism over the strengthening of a fragile U.S.-backed democratic government.
"I'm not going to allow al-Qaida or (Osama) bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland," Obama said.
The most promising areas for cooperation are probably Afghanistan and Iraq, both neighbors of Iran where the United States is fighting wars. Especially in Afghanistan, Iran has a strong interest in containing insurgent violence and the drug trade that threaten to spill over Iran's borders.
Obama repeated the usual list of U.S. complaints against Iran, including financial support for alleged Middle East terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and "bellicose language" directed at U.S. ally Israel. He also said Iran's nuclear program threatens to rock the Middle East and could set off a new arms race.
Iran denies it is pursuing a covert weapons program and insists its accelerated nuclear development program is aimed at producing electrical power. Despite broad doubts about the true nature of Iran's nuclear program, there is no public, irrefutable proof that the Islamic republic is using a legitimate energy program to build an illicit bomb.
Obama also said his administration is conducting a "thoroughgoing review" of the Afghanistan war and said he does not know how long the reassessment will take.
"We are going to need more effective coordination of our military efforts, with diplomatic efforts, with development efforts, with more effective coordination with our allies in order for us to be successful," Obama said.
He credited "the extraordinary work done by our troops" and diplomatic successes for relative peace and stability in Iraq.
"You do not see that yet in Afghanistan. They've got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what's going on in the surrounding community," Obama said.
That was a marked contrast from former President George W. Bush, who never missed an opportunity to praise the courage and leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a strong Bush ally.
As a candidate, Obama said the Bush administration was fighting the wrong war in Iraq and promised to retrain U.S. efforts against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. As president he is expected to approve an additional 30,000 U.S. forces for Afghanistan this year, fulfilling a standing request from the top U.S. commander to roughly double the number of U.S. soldiers there.
The first orders for Afghan deployments were expected by now, and the White House has not explained the holdup. The first additions are expected to be a mix of Army and Marine Corps units that will be directed to areas of heavy fighting against the Taliban and related groups.
Obama suggested that not enough has been done to go after militants where they hide out and rearm in the forbidding mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, another key U.S. ally.
"What we haven't seen is the kind of concerted effort to root out those safe havens that would ultimately make our mission successful," Obama said.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
